When the front office put together this group of elite bats, creating mock lineups from a system stocked in position player talent was a good distraction from the struggling product on the field at Wrigley. But a question that would often follow was: How would the Cubs find pitching?

The solution back then was collecting position players in bulk, knowing that could eventually fix the pitching holes as well. Gather enough talent and eventually some of it becomes superfluous. Of course, what some call superfluous, Theo Epstein calls depth.

But it’s time for the Cubs to dip into that depth. They’ve signed pitchers like Jon Lester and John Lackey on the free-agent market. They’ve traded for under-the-radar starters in Kyle Hendricks and Jake Arrieta. And once again, it's time to aggressively pursue that proven commodity on the mound. With multiple holes to fill, free agency may not be enough. And with a team in the midst of its contention cycle, some certainty...

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